Capacity Assessment of Youth Entrepreneurship Program Implementers in Madagascar

This study sought to assess the capacity of key implementers of Youth Entrepreneurship Programs and their partners in Madagascar. The study specifically sought to assess the technical capacities of Youth Entrepreneurship program implementers in Madagascar and to establish the barriers to youth engagement in entrepreneurship programs. This study was anchored on human capital theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design with a target population of 40 agribusiness program implements from government, quasi government and private sector actors drawn from Antanarivo, Toamasina, Antirabe and Manakara regions of Madagascar. The choice of the study area was based on on-going youth employment initiatives funded by the Government of Madagascar. The study revealed that the most common challenges faced when implementing youth entrepreneurship programs was inadequate capacity among program implementers. It was established that program implementers did not have adequate capacities to be able to drive the proposed youth employment solutions and deploy business models effectively. The study recommends that countries focused on addressing youth entrepreneurship programs should invest significantly in developing the capacity of staff tasked with rolling out the interventions. The strategies employed in different contexts are varied and at times quite dynamic. These calls for continuous skills development and training for staff as well as provision of necessary facilities and infrastructure to ensure continuity and sustainability of initiatives that address youth employment challenges.